Word.ws English Dictionary

no man's land

UK/ˈnəʊˌmænzˌlænd//ˈnoʊˌmænzˌlænd/

no man's land noun: the ground between trenches where a soldier from either side would be easily targeted.

no man's land: the ground between trenches where a soldier from either side would be easily targeted
Image: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

no man's land (countable and uncountable, plural no man's lands)

  1. The ground between trenches where a soldier from either side would be easily targeted.
    • Near-synonym: kill zone
    • Here and there in that wilderness of dead bodies—the dreadful “No-Man’s-Land” between the opposing lines—deserted guns showed up singly or in groups, glistening in the full glare of the beam or silhouetted in black against a ray behind.1908 December, Ole Luk-Oie [pseudonym; Ernest Swinton], “The Point of View”, in Blackwood’s Magazine, volume CLXXXIV, number MCXVIII, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood & Sons, […], →ISSN, →OCLC...
    Synonyms:
    kill zone
  2. A space amidships used to keep blocks, ropes, etc.; a space on a ship belonging to no one in particular for which to care.
  3. The part of a prison, hospital complex, etc. where individuals are not normally allowed to enter.
  4. (figuratively) A place where no one can or should be present.
    • Now, George, if you’re going to consider this question from the point of view of poetry, you’re off to No Man’s Land, where I won’t follow you.1867 April 6, T[homas] W[illiam] Robertson, “Act I.[—The Little House in Stangate—Courtship.]”, in Caste: An Original Comedy, London: […] J[ohn] Ogden and Co., […], →OCLC, page 8
    • There’s a 137-square-mile chunk of Franklin County […] often referred to as "no man’s land" because it isn’t protected by any of the county’s four fire districts.2006 March 25, Melissa Hoyos, “Area has no fire protection […]”, in Tri-City Herald, volume 104, number 84, Pasco, Wash.: McClatchy Company, →OCLC, page A1, column 2
  5. The area between the backcourt and the space close to the net, from which it is difficult to return the ball.
  6. An area of the field where a fielder cannot save a single, nor stop a boundary.
  7. (historical) Tracts of uninhabited territory close to the Iron Curtain.
  8. The stretch of land between the border posts of two contiguous sovereign states, sometimes separated by great distance.
    • At the last Polish station all train officials left, except the locomotive crew, and we slowly trundled over a strongly fortified no man's land for a few hundred yards until we drew in to the first station in Russia.1954 April, P. E. Witham, “A Trans-Siberian Memory”, in The Railway Magazine, volume 100, London: Tothill Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 269, column 1
    • The airport [Nicosia International Airport] has been frozen in time since a ceasefire between pro-Greek and pro-Turkish forces was reached on Aug. 16, 1974, when it ended up in the no man’s land that has divided Cyprus ever since. […] In the absence of human intervention, no man’s lands turn into...2011 December 19, Frank Jacobs, “Frozen in Time”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 03 Jan 2012
  9. Land that is not claimed by any recognized sovereign state; a terra nullius.
  10. The fibrous sheath of the flexor tendons of the hand, specifically in the zone from the distal palmar crease to the proximal interphalangeal joint.

Proper noun capitalized: No Man's Land

No Man's Land

  1. A hamlet in Morval parish and St Martin-by-Looe parish, east Cornwall, England (OS grid ref SX2756).
  2. A hamlet in Chilcomb parish, Winchester district, Hampshire, England (OS grid ref SU5129).

Synonyms of no man's land

Forms of no man's land

pluralno man's lands
alternative formNo Man's Land
alternative formno-man's land
alternative formno-man's-land
alternative formnoman's land

Origin of no man's land

Originally from Middle English Nomanneslond (“an area of land outside of London utilised for executions; a swath of unowned or undesirable land; land that is subject to legal dispute”), which is first attested c. 1350 and equivalent to no man (“no one, nobody”) + -'s + land. Revived with new senses in a short story in Blackwood's Magazine in 1908 by the British Army officer Ernest Swinton (1868–1951), writing as "Ole Luk-Oie" (see the quotation), but only came into common use in the context of the Anglo-German Christmas truce of 1914, and thereafter appeared frequently in official communiqués, newspaper reports, and personnel correspondences of the members of the British Expeditionary Force.

See no man's land.

Words formed from no man's land

Questions about no man's land

What does no man's land mean?
No man's land means the ground between trenches where a soldier from either side would be easily targeted.
What part of speech is no man's land?
No man's land can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce no man's land?
No man's land is pronounced /ˈnoʊˌmænzˌlænd/ (US).
What is the plural of no man's land?
The plural of no man's land is no man's lands.

Words near no man's land in the dictionary

  1. no love lost
  2. no man
  3. no man is an island
  4. No Man's Heath
  5. No Man's Heath and District
  6. no man's land
  7. no man's lands
  8. no mark
  9. no marks
  10. no mas
  11. no matter

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: no man's land (page history and authors); No Man's Land (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-no man's land.wav.

Cite this entry: “no man's land.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/no_man%27s_land. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.